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Rocky River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Rocky River: a Cleveland Metroparks stream with an ODNR-stocked steelhead run and public fords along Valley Parkway.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
59 cfs
Air / High
63 / 63 F
Wind
N 5 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 04201500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Rocky River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 59 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 5 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 63. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:31 PM-12:31 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadGood

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Tomorrow: Similar at 64 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Ohio requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a Ohio licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with ODNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Ohio, read off the agency, are on the Ohio seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Rocky River near Berea OH.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 04201500.

8414019659 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 95 years of October 23

At 59 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 04201500 (Rocky River near Berea OH) is at the 55th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 95 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 45 cfs; the highest was 962 cfs and the lowest 2 cfs.

p10 10median 45p90 318

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 04201500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp63 F
High / Low63 / 44 F
WindN 5-6 mph
Pressure1026.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:48 / 18:34
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Rocky River this week

The best day on Rocky River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:31 PM-12:31 AM
Minor period
4:24 AM-5:24 AM
Sun
07:48 to 18:34
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Rocky River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

When to come: the Rocky River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Smallmouth bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Rocky River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 63 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 64 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 64 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Ohio requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Ohio fishing license (2026-27 regulations, March 1, 2026-Feb. 28, 2027). Trout and salmon: 2 a day now through Feb. 28, 2027 (5 a day May 16-Aug. 31), 12-inch minimum. Lake Erie bass rules apply up to the Detroit Road bridge. No snagging from Sept. 1 to April 30.

Access

Cleveland Metroparks Rocky River Reservation: Morley Ford and Rockcliff Springs Ford off Valley Parkway; Emerald Necklace Marina, 1500 Scenic Park Dr., Lakewood. Metroparks lists the reservation in Berea, Brook Park, Cleveland, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Olmsted Township and Rocky River.

About this water

A Lake Erie tributary through Cleveland Metroparks' Rocky River Reservation, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Fishing Rocky River: the full guide

A park-district river

Cleveland Metroparks says it owns 26 stream miles of the Rocky River, the largest single public stream ownership in Ohio. The park district says the river supports a significant steelhead fishery, native stream fisheries for a range of species and a stock-and-catch trout fishery in upstream segments.

Steelhead stocking

ODNR stocked 80,045 steelhead in the Rocky River in April 2025, a mix of Wisconsin and Shasta strains, after 81,051 in 2024 and 100,532 in 2021; its 2026 target for the river is 80,000.

Fords and the marina

Metroparks lists Morley Ford and Rockcliff Springs Ford, both reached from Valley Parkway with parking nearby, as good spots for steelhead and smallmouth bass. Emerald Necklace Marina, about 5,000 feet south of Lake Erie, sells live bait and fishing tackle.

Rules and the Berea gauge

Ohio's Lake Erie trout and salmon rules cover the whole river: 2 fish a day from September 1 to February 28 and from March 1 to May 15, 5 a day from May 16 to August 31, 12-inch minimum. Snagging any fish in the Rocky River is illegal from September 1 to April 30. Flow on this page comes from USGS gauge 04201500 near Berea, upstream of the reservation's lower fords.

Common questions

Is the Rocky River stocked with steelhead?

Yes. ODNR stocked 80,045 steelhead there in 2025 and targets 80,000 for 2026.

How many steelhead can I keep?

Two a day of at least 12 inches from September 1 through May 15, and 5 a day from May 16 to August 31.

Where can I fish from the bank?

Metroparks points to Morley Ford and Rockcliff Springs Ford off Valley Parkway, both with parking nearby.

Is fishing good at Rocky River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Chagrin River24 miVermilion River28 miGrand River35 miHuron River41 miBerlin Lake54 miLake Erie55 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 04201500 β€” Rocky River near Berea OH
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 17:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.4912, -81.8393 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.